TLC and Sympathy
by gatehead81
Summary: Jack and Sam have been captured and once again left alone together in a cell. This time they share a little mutually sympathetic moment before patching each other up and settling down for the night. J/S Pre-ship. Set any time between seasons 3 and 8. Friendship; Hurt/Comfort


**AN: Another fluffy little Jack and Sam two-way. Purely K rated and pretty close to cannon, but you can tell me if I took it too far or not, I don't think I did, they do have a close bond after all.**

**Summary: Jack and Sam have been captured and once again left alone together in a cell. This time they share a little mutually sympathetic moment before patching each other up and settling down for the night. J/S Pre-ship. Set any time between seasons 3 and 8. Friendship; Hurt/Comfort**

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**TLC AND SYMPATY**

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Sam was feeling roughed up and kind of sorry for herself and by the wistful sound the Colonel had just made she was not alone. Slowly she turned her head to look over at him where he was lying on his back on the cold stone floor. His position almost exactly mirrored her own with the exception that he was holding onto his injured knee while her arm was wrapped round her not quite broken ribs.

Painfully she stretched up onto one elbow. "You okay Sir?" she asked as soon as her grimace faded.

He looked over at her, her big blue eyes where shining bright even in the dim light. "Yeah Carter I'm good...just contemplating something..."

"Oh?" she asked, wondering what was on his mind.

Jack stretched up, his hand staying round his knee. He paused as he noted her protective posture.

Sam watched as his chocolate eyes lingered on her side for a moment before he spoke. "Why is it always the same place?" he asked her.

She frowned. "Sir?"

"How come it's always the same place they hit us?" He shook his head. "I mean why not my other knee? Why does it always have to be the screwed up one that they bash in? And you, with the ribs?"

Sam's eyes roamed around the small cell. "Gee Colonel I really don't know...I guess maybe subconsciously we defend our weak spots, making them more obvious to the Goa'uld."

Jack did not particularly like that answer. "I dunno Carter. I mean sometimes when we are all lined up like that I am leaning on this knee sometimes I'm not. And I certainly never notice you favouring your right side or anything, but somehow that's always where they hit you."

Sam sat up more fully. "And with Daniel it's always the back. What is with that?"

"Exactly!" Jack joined her in her upright position. "I mean seriously, don't you think we have enough to deal with without the goa'uld smashing up the most easily broken bits of us? I'm getting really sick of this knee getting made worse and worse all the time."

Sam nodded in empathy, she knew exactly what he meant, ever since the last time they had mangle her right side she could no longer sleep on it, that or on her back. She shifted and it hurt.

Jack saw her instantly pale and jerked forward. A sharp pain stabbed through his leg and up into his hip. "Ow!" he declared without meaning to.

Sam stopped rubbing her side and scowled, it was unlike her CO to inadvertently show pain, his knee must be a lot worse than he was letting on. "Sir...will you let me take a look?" she asked cautiously.

Jack's eye ran swiftly to her and then away again. "Um...no Carter it's okay, I think I'll survive."

Sam clamped down on the sharp breath that wanted to escape her, showing discontent at his choice would get her nowhere. "If you're sure Colonel...I mean I really don't mind...and I do still have one of those weird new cool-gel things the Tollan gave us."

"You do?" Jack was surprised at that, the search had been quite...thorough...a little too thorough to be comfortable that much was for sure.

Sam smiled. "Yeah I do, even the Goa'uld seem to respect a lady's boundaries!" she said sarcastically and reached in through the neck of her T-shirt.

The small pack at this stage was still warm to the touch and Sam waved it at him.

"Major..." he said. "You never cease to surprise me."

"So-o?" she asked.

"Are you sure you don't want it for your ribs?" he asked, gesturing towards her obvious hurt.

Sam peeled the pack in half. "Got enough for both of us. Knee first, you might need that to run on pretty soon."

Jack grinned widely. "Ever the optimist...if you had not already been promoted..."

Sam laughed, clutching at her side, ignoring the sharp knife edge running in along her. "Oh please Sir, as if optimism ever got anyone a higher rank...here let me." she said as he struggled to reach down towards his feet.

Deftly she rolled up his fatigue leg revealing a badly swollen purple and red knee. She hissed in a sharp breath. "Yeah, definitely your knee first."

Jack leaned back onto his elbows and through gritted teeth tried hard not to make any sounds of pain as she ran her fingers over his affected area. She was quick with her assessment and he found himself unexpectedly staring into her eyes when he looked back towards her. "I realise this must hurt like hell but you're lucky Sir, your kneecap is still in place. But it's really too swollen to tell what other kind of damage has been done, what with your pins and all." Swiftly she shrugged out of her green fatigue shirt.

"Carter?" he asked. It was never good practice to shed layers in favour of an injured person.

"I'll be fine Sir, it's not cold on this planet." she told him as she ripped her shirt into strips. "This needs to be strapped if you have any chance of making it out of here without a stretcher."

"Oh, not again!" he openly complained. He hated it when she had to do this...even if it did mean he got to feel her warm confident hands run up and down his calf...just like that. He closed his eyes.

"Don't worry Sir, the effects of the CGP will mean you won't feel anything this time, it will completely numb the area first."

It took Jack a moment to figure out what the acronym was, especially with her hands still on him. "Cool Gel Pack, very original." he muttered.

"You ready?" she asked, ignoring his innate grumbling.

As soon as he nodded Sam took the corners of the small ketchup sized pack and began to stretch them out. It still fascinated her that something so small could be widened out to the size of a double bed throw if needed and it knew whether hot or cold was need...it sure was some weird ass technology. And sure the Tollan no longer had a use for this kind of 'in the field' technology but the peoples of Earth certainly did.

When it was wide enough she carefully wrapped it around the Colonel's knee and secured it using the strips of her shirt. Really it did not need the strips but she knew the Colonel would feel more reassured if they were there. "All done." Sam informed him as she rolled the leg of his fatigues back into place. She huffed out a tired breath. Small as it was, the effort had been a real strain on her ribs.

Jack tentatively waggled his toes inside his boots, his knee did not hurt at all anymore. "Woah, thanks Carter, that feels much better!" Suddenly he was feeling high as a kite, it must just be the relief of not feeling any pain. He let out a slow, contented breath and tipped his head back, boy did that feel good.

Sam smiled. "I'm glad." she said, genuinely meaning it and feeling a sense of self-pride that she could so easily cause him such obvious relief. As she watched him, his relief became a deep-seated look of satisfaction. If she didn't know better she would think something else had just happened to him. The though made her blush.

"Now it's your turn." he breathed her after a few minutes and brought his head round to look at her. For some reason her skin held a pinkish hue.

Sam shifted a little. "Ah, it's okay Sir, I got it."

"Nonsense Major, you fixed me, now I fix you." He held her eye, telling her that she basically had no choice on this one.

"Fine Sir, just..."

"Be gentle?" he finished for her in a quiet voice.

"Something like that." Sam felt a lump sticking in the back of her throat. She really did not need to be patched up and the Colonel was going to be seeing a lot more of her than she normally would allow. They had hit her four times this time and the injured area extended much higher than the last few times. She decided she needed to warn him of that fact and carefully pulled her arm out through the sleeve of her t-shirt whilst averting her gaze. Next lowered herself onto her back, raised her knees a little and placed her right hand above her head.

Jack swallowed hard before he began the task of peeling up the rest of Carter's t-shirt and exposing what should be the soft pale skin of her side. He could feel her body heat radiating from her and took a moment to settle himself. She was still refusing to look at him he realised so he clamped down on his boarder-line unprofessional feelings and concentrated on the task at hand. His 2IC was injured and he needed to patch her up...and boy was she.

Sam shut her eyes as Jack's hands ran over the edges of her ribs, she twitched as he tracked over the injured area checking the extent of the damage. "How bad is it?" she whispered when she felt him complete his task.

Jack decided it was best to ease her concerns. "Well it's not pretty Carter, but you've definitely been in worse shape. Bruised but not broken I would say, though it's kinda hard to tell. You are certainly going to be covered in pretty rainbow colours in the morning." He smiled at her, trying hard to keep things light, but they both knew from experience that badly bruised ribs were often more painful than broken ones and they took longer to heal. "Looks like we're both gonna be out of commission for a while when we get home."

Sam frowned at that.

"But hey, on the bright side that means another chess tournament and a lot of pizza!"

She chuckled a little and then spasmed. "Don't make me laugh, Sir. At least not until you've got that thing on me."

Jack grinned crookedly down at her. "Sure thing Carter...wanna move onto your side for me so I can get this round the back too?" He thought it best just to cover all of her and ignore the fact that the gel pad would have more effect if it was under her bra...no way he could ask that of her under these conditions. It was already apparent that she was feeling very exposed.

Sam nodded and slowly complied. She sighed as the CGP instantly began to cool the fire that was burning through her. "Wow." she whispered.

"I know, feels great doesn't it?"

"Mm-hmm." she nodded. "It must have some kind of feel good pain relief in it too, I'm feeling a little..."

"Euphoric?"

"Yeah..."

"I did too, but it's passed now, so enjoy it."

Jack watched as Sam rolled back over onto her back, a look of pure pleasure passing over her face. Man how he wanted to kiss her right now! Instead he pulled her top back down as best he could and waited for her to open her eyes again. "Better?" he asked already knowing the answer.

"Much." Sam replied and sat up straight, easing her hand back in through the arm of her t-shirt.

They looked at each other for a few moments, various forbidden thoughts passing through their minds but before either of them had the chance to speak Jack yawned and Sam soon followed suit. "Side-effect?" she wondered.

"Doubt it." said Jack. "We've been awake for almost thirty hours and now we are both pain free. I think that'll do it."

"Yeah." Sam agreed, he was absolutely right, all they needed was some sleep. Somehow that made her feel totally relaxed.

"Come on, we should lie down. Let's put both our jackets here and lie close." Jack suggested. "...for comfort." he added.

Sam smiled carefully at him. She could think of a million reasons why they should lie side by side, but for comfort would do just nicely this time round. She watched as he placed their jackets one on top of the other and patted them a little.

Turning away from him and lying with her injured side down Sam pulled her knees up. It took only a few moments for him to curl up behind her and drop his arm gently around her. She could feel his smiling as he adjusted himself up behind her. "Night Carter. We'll go find the guys and escape out of this place in the morning." he whispered.

"Sounds like a plan." She yawned again and then spoke up. "Sir?"

"Yeah Carter?"

"Um...sweet dreams." she whispered.

"You too Carter, you too." Jack breathed and smiled as he felt her nestle even closer to him in the humid, off-world night air.

END

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**AN: Aww, cute couple...almost :)**


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